Staff photo / Chris McBride
Volunteer Tiffany Husk hands out bags of apples during the Warren Family Mission’s emergency food giveaway Friday. Volunteers wore ponchos to work in the rain, distributing 500 bags of food to hundreds of residents in a drive-thru line.

On Friday, a carousel of cars filtered in and out of the Warren Family Mission’s food pantry parking lot at 1312 W. Market St., with the line wrapped around the block along Penn Avenue NW, Ward Street NW and Austin Avenue NW. Drivers showed IDs to pick up bags of groceries, with up to two families per car allowed as long as each had a photo ID with a different home address.

Caitlin White, executive director of the Warren Family Mission, described the scene as unprecedented.

“I’ve never seen a line all the way down West Market Street, all the way down to like the Hot Dog Shoppe. I mean, that’s how crazy it got,” she said.

She said the mission even had to turn some vehicles away, and they started distributing an hour earlier than the original noon start time because the demand was so high.

White said the mission has seen double the amount of food bags given out compared to normal.

“On average, typically about 120, but yesterday (Thursday) there were 250-260 food bags,” she said.

White said the event was modeled after a grocery store to replace what families might get through SNAP.

“Everything that these people would get in their SNAP benefits that they had canceled, I gave them everything that they would normally get to feed their family. So they’re getting a meat, they’re getting a dairy, they’re getting eggs, they’re getting cereal, they’re getting pasta, pasta sauce, everything that you would find at a grocery store, we supplied.”

The mission teamed up with New Day, which contributed $2,000, On-Demand Counseling, and Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley to make the event happen.

Additional support came from community organizations like Great Lakes Cheese, which donated eight pallets of cheese, and the mission purchased food out-of-pocket from Sam’s Club and GFS to ensure supplies of meat and produce.

White highlighted the broader strain across the Mahoning Valley.

“Every organization is struggling right now to meet the demand. So, you know, I’ve heard the Salvation Army is also upping their stuff. Everyone’s hurting right now,” White said.

She added that uncertainty around aid from Gov. Mike DeWine and Job and Family Services has compounded the issues, with funding for food banks expected to arrive Friday, but it did not materialize.

White shared stories of the human impact, saying that people who haven’t used services in three or four years are returning.

“‘We’re scared, we need help.’ You know, there was a woman in our line for food the other day crying because she’s like, ‘we don’t know how we’re going to feed our family,'” White said.

Volunteers have stepped up, with groups of 15 or 20 helping to pack more than 500 bags plus produce and milk in recent days in preparation for Friday’s giveaway.

The mission’s regular operations include food giveaways Tuesday through Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m., plus lunch and dinner every day from noon to 12:30 p.m. at the church, Monday through Saturday.

SALVATION ARMY HELPS

At the same time, The Salvation Army nearby on Franklin Street ran its weekly soup kitchen, serving hot meals and take-home lunches from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Diane Campbell, a retired major who has been with the Salvation Army for 46 years, still volunteers because she misses helping people.

“I miss being around people and serving them,” she said.

Kayla Hankins, the social services assistant and Angel Tree coordinator, said the need for food has grown. The group usually hands out 40 to 50 bags a day, but now limits it to 18 because supplies are low. “We’re seeing a greater need across the entire country,” Campbell said.

“People are waiting for food stamps, disability checks or paychecks. They’re stretching as far as they can,” Hankins added.

The Salvation Army gets food from Second Harvest Food Bank once a month and relies on donations from local stores like Sheetz, Country Fair and Giant Eagle, which provide bread, sandwiches and snacks. Without these, “we couldn’t do it,” Campbell said. The group also makes 20 to 30 homeless bags a day, but lately it’s up to 50.

To help more, The Salvation Army plans a free meal drive-thru starting Dec. 12 at 9 a.m. For Christmas, they will distribute toys and food on Dec. 15 and 16 at 9 a.m. to 500 families and 1,100 kids who signed up for the Angel Tree. Bring an ID, with no more than three bags per car.

Hankins also runs a diaper bank to help families. “God will make a way,” she said, as the team keeps faith amid the challenges.

Looking ahead, White said she was concerned for what the strain will do to their holiday events at the Warren Family Mission.

“If this continues, on average, we do 2,200 meals in one day for Thanksgiving, 2,200 meals for Christmas. We may have to up our meal count… we might have to end up doing 2,500-2,600 meals,” White said.

The mission only has about 80 turkeys and needs around 220, with donations slower than expected.

“Unfortunately, though, with these times, people are struggling to donate… our donations during this time, it’s just not what we were expecting… this is like our make or break season, October to December,” White said.

Community members are pitching in too. Everyone deserves to eat,” Campbell said. “If we all come together, we can meet those needs.”

White echoed the sentiment, noting that times like these inspire mutual aid and change perspectives, with organizations pulling together to keep things running.

CITY EFFORTS

Warren Councilman Todd Johnson, I-1st Ward, said he approached Mayor Doug Franklin last week with a plan to allocate $25,000 in city funds for food vouchers distributed through the Trumbull County Mobile Market, a program the city helped launch two years ago.

He proposed providing $50 vouchers to about 500 families, focusing on food deserts and staggering distributions throughout the month as the SNAP outage persists.

After having been vetted by the city’s law department, the legislation is set for a vote Wednesday as an emergency measure.

If approved, the mobile market, operated by Flying HIGH Inc., would begin stops around the city early next week, with any unspent funds returned if SNAP benefits resume.

Johnson talked about the effort as being a modest, but immediate, aid to community drives by churches, schools and nonprofits like the Second Harvest Food Bank, Warren Family Mission and Salvation Army.

“This is just one of many efforts to try to alleviate the burden that families are feeling. This is not a comprehensive effort. $50 is not a massive amount of money, but when you factor in the discounts available for the fresh groceries, the meats, the vegetables, the milk, all of that, perhaps will help families toward a week’s worth of groceries,” he said.

He said there’s built-in discounts of 25% to 30% at the market, such as $5 off for spending $15 or $25 off for $100, which would stretch the vouchers.

Johnson said the city’s initiative allows for local control without waiting on the federal or state government to take action.

“We can make a start and see how the needs are responded to with the funds that we have local control over,” he said.